Method of manufacturing a welded tubular section using in-line notching and trimming initiated after roll-forming and welding

Abstract

A method of manufacturing a tubular member for an automotive application that includes providing a flat workpiece of a material; forming at least one lance in the flat workpiece; roll-forming the flat workpiece into a tubular configuration; induction welding a seam of the tubular workpiece after the roll-forming; and trimming the tubular workpiece through the lance after welding the seam.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of manufacturing a tubular member for an automotive application, the method comprising:
 providing a workpiece of a material; 
 forming a lance in the workpiece and at least one through hole adjacent to an end of the lance; 
 roll-forming the workpiece into a generally rectangular tubular configuration; 
 welding a seam of the tubular workpiece after the roll-forming; and 
 trimming the tubular workpiece through the lance and the through hole after welding the seam; 
 wherein a first through hole of the at least one through hole is directly connected to the end of the lance. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the material is between 4.5 and 5.2 millimeters. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising quenching the welded seam using a mixture of water coolant in a ratio of 97:3. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein welding the seam of the tubular workpiece after the roll-forming comprises welding the seam using induction welding. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising cutting the tubular workpiece to a predetermined length using a cutting blade that moves in an up and down direction, wherein the trimming of the tubular workpiece is performed using a trimming blade that moves in a side to side direction. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , wherein the trimming and the cutting are performed in a common station of a tooling. 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the lance has an elongated shape having a ratio of a length to a width that is greater than 10:1. 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein the ratio of the length to the width is greater than 20:1. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the lance comprises:
 a first side directly connected to a first adjacent non-lanced portion of the workpiece; and 
 a second side directly connected to a second adjacent non-lanced portion of the workpiece. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , wherein the first and second sides are on opposite sides of the lance. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , wherein the lance comprises a first end and a second end, wherein the first end is adjacent to the first through hole of the at least one through hole, and the second end is adjacent to a second through hole of the at least one through hole. 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 11 , wherein each of the first and second sides are located along a length of the lance, and each of the first and second ends are located along a width of the lance. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 12 , wherein the lance has an elongated shape having a ratio of the length to the width that is greater than 10:1. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 10 , wherein each of the first and second through holes has a J-shape. 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 1 , wherein forming the lance in the workpiece also includes punching a locating hole in the workpiece, the locating hole being engaged by a locator in a tooling prior to trimming the tubular workpiece through the lance. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 15 , further comprising providing a support member of the tooling for supporting a backside of the workpiece during the trimming process, wherein the trimming blade moves in an orthogonal direction relative to a longitudinal direction of the workpiece to engage and disengage the lance of the tubular workpiece. 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the lance is directly connected to adjacent material of the workpiece that is non-lanced around an entire periphery of the lance except for the at least one through hole. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 1 , wherein roll-forming the workpiece into a generally rectangular tubular configuration comprises roll-forming the workpiece such that a first side edge faces a second side edge with a gap therebetween, and wherein the seam is defined by the first side edge, the gap, and the second side edge. 
     
     
       19. The method of  claim 18 , wherein trimming the tubular workpiece comprises cutting the tubular workpiece through the lance and the at least one through hole to divide the tubular workpiece into two tubular members having symmetrically opposite configurations, such that the each tubular member has part of the removed section at an end of the tubular member.